2011 Walt Disney World Happy New Year Celebration and Dessert Party

In an effort to get everything onto one central location, I'm pulling all my old photos/write-ups over to Flowerstales.com. Many of these are from when I was heavy on photos and light on write-up.

We'll randomly start on this post from New Years 2011.

After visiting family in Colorado, Delaware, and Washington DC, Theresa and I were already on the East Coast. We hopped down to Florida to join Jacob for New Years at Walt Disney World!

The park was absolutely packed! Even lines for getting a fastpass were 30 people deep on each machine during the busy parts of the day.

I had overheard that at 10am they started closing the parking lots to the Magic Kingdom and people were forced to go elsewhere. It was pretty typical for a busy day at the parks. People lined up for the parades up to two hours ahead of time.

Around 3:30pm we noticed that Disney was giving out New Year's hats and party favors. There were at least 2 locations that I saw. The busiest with huge lines was in Fantasyland right by the construction wall in front of Winnie the Pooh. The lines we saw stretched to easily a couple hundred people. Over in Tomorrowland though, it was hidden away to the right side of Space Mountain, and you could walk right up and get them. Props for Disney for giving something away free! Those noisemakers were pretty annoying though all through the rest of the day, as people were blowing them in line and on rides.

I had made reservations for the New Year's Eve Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Buffet. Around 10:30pm we headed over there. Cast members had blocked off the area around Buzz and Stitch and weren't allowing anyone to go towards the hub. They directed people that wanted to go down a backstage area of the park that took them near the railway station on Main Street. After explaining to the cast member we had reservations, they let us pass the blockade.

The dessert buffet was amazing! We had a reserved table with our party's name on it waiting for us when we got there. There was all you can eat dessert, a cheese table, a sushi table, plus beverages including cans of Coke and Sprite.

Our table marker.

Our table candy / decoration. 

Looking out from the terrace, the hub and all surrounding areas were completely packed! I was surprised some people even jumped fences and sat on the grass.

The hub was definitely packed, but the terrace was great!

The view from our table.

Around 11:45, cast members came around letting everyone know there was sparkling cider available for toasting the new year.

Most people left their tables and went to the railing for the fireworks and countdown.

The fireworks display was amazing! Disney really goes all out.

From our vantage point we could see the fireworks at the castle, all around the hub, and even what looked to be some at the entrance.

Even the cast members were enjoying themselves.

 Happy New Year!

The park really cleared out after midnight. Anywhere away from the hub was relatively empty. The hub though kept rocking until 2am and was still plenty busy. The DJ was playing music that was pumped through the entire park, which was awesome! 

Lots of people dancing in front of the castle, even at 1:30am!

All in all, it was a great day! A little crowded, but man what a celebration!